Responses to Responses

Thanks to Diamondeye for correcting Wednesday’s listing of the 49ers defense against the Seahawks. It was one man short. I forgot to slip in Marques Douglas at left end.

Also Nofear, as usual, left a provocative post saying the Berger and I had figured out the 49ers’ Big Nickel defense and there was no longer a need for Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary. I agree with Nofear’s sarcastic assessment. Nolan and Singletary probably hold double doctorates in football by now while fans and media are just getting out of middle school. Nevertheless, its fun to debate the X’s and O’s, and other aspects of the team. Heck, that’s what the blog is for.

And just because Nolan and Singletary have spent all their adult lives in football doesn’t mean they’re above reproach or don’t make mistakes. Just take a look at Nolan’s hotly-debated game day decisions for example.

StonerLab asked about Nolan as a defensive coordinator in a Tuesday post. As a defensive mind, Nolan is up there with the best in the game. The 49ers were on pace to give up the most points in league history after the first four games in 2006. Nolan made adjustments, got more clever in his alignments, and the 49ers ended the season as one of the better defensive teams.

He constantly makes adjustments and comes up with wrinkles that often work. The use of a 3-4 nickel defense against the Bengals is a good example. The defense sagged this year partially because Nolan was less involved with the game-planning.

Nolan’s return to the defense could be a positive by-product of Mike Martz hiring as the offensive coordinator.

StonerLab also pointed out that the Patriots seem far more effective with their 3-4 defense than the 49ers are, even though New England’s defense isn’t known for its defensive talent. Certainly, Bill Belichick is a tremendous coach, but he gets too much credit for the Pats defense, which is extremely talented.

As one poster pointed out, the three defensive linemen are all former first-round draft picks and Richard Seymour might be going to the Hall of Fame. Depending on his longevity, Vince Wilfork could join him there.

Junior Seau is a Hall of Famer, and Mike Vrabel should be. Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison will get HOF looks and Asante Samuel might also depending on how he fares the rest of his career. That’s a lot of talent

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A word on the elephant, which was the designated pass rusher positon of the glory years. I’d be surprised if Jeff Fuller played that role in the ’85 Super Bowl. Fred Dean was probably the first elephant followed by Dwaine Board, Charles Haley, Tim Harris, Rickey Jackson, Chris Doleman and a host of others. Interesting to note that Dean never started in his five seasons in San Francisco (1981-5).

I checked out the opener against the Cardinals to see how the 49ers used Manny Lawson. They put him at safety for one play – the last play of the game with 16 seconds left and Arizona desperate to try to get into field goal range. Other than that, he never lined up more than five yards off the ball.

Lawson did look good at times, but it must be a disappointment for the 49ers to have a guy they thought would get double-digit sacks not even playing on passing downs. Basically, Lawson just took care of the tight end in non-passing situations.